


Colours

by Dabberdees



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 1 in 12 men are colourblind so I thought why not Graham, 1 in 200 women are for another statistic if you wanted to know, Gen, It is before It Takes You Away, So no Grandad yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 00:55:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17376449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dabberdees/pseuds/Dabberdees
Summary: When Ryan, Yas, and The Doctor are arrested it's up to Graham to rescue them but there's a little issue in the way, one he hasn't told them about.





	Colours

This was supposed to be a nice, easy trip. Have a look at the sights and do all those tourist things but when travelling with The Doc, you tend to bump into trouble. Graham sighs, quickly hiding behind a wall as guards pass him by. That’s how he finds himself now, trying to get into the detention centre to spring his friends and family from it. 

He’s lucky he’s not currently locked with them, he guesses. He wanted to stay behind and look at the view. They always ask him why he takes so long to gaze at the views they see, he sorta shrugs in response, never telling them. Truthfully it’s because he spends the time working out the correct colours, he’s got quite good at guessing but he can never quite get red right. You would think driving would be an issue when you can’t tell red or green apart but you just look for the things that stand out. Like now, how the doors to this darkened block all have little lights above them indicating when they are locked and unlocked, both look green to him, but if you follow the flashing of the light and wait like you would at a traffic light you can... and there, it flashes open. He enters quickly and walks into the next room, glancing around to see if there are any guards around and breathing a sigh of relief when he doesn’t see any.

He makes his way further into the block, picking up the sound of familiar voices and noticing when they start to fade, he picks up his pace. There’s a security room just ahead and he spots his Fam inside, locked in a glass room with what looks to be a key card system in place. Well at least they’re safe! And no guards, perfect. He steps from the shadows and enters.

 

The Doc, Ryan, and Yas are sat on the floor, waiting for the guards to come back. “I’m sorry Fam.” The Doctor says looking at Yas and then to Ryan.

Yas frowns. “Why are you sorry?”

“I touched the statue, got us arrested.” The Doctor responds, looking a little dejected. Yas puts her arm around The Doctor’s shoulder.

“Not your fault, you didn’t know it was a sacred statue..” reassures Yas. The Doctor looks up at her and Yas sees a small smile on her face.

Ryan, sitting opposite them smirks. They sit in silence for a little while longer, before Ryan speaks up remembering about their missing team member. “Hey Graham never got arrested, he might be able to get us out.”

The Doctor looks at Ryan. “I don’t want him putting himself in danger, if he’s caught trying to break out prisoners, it would worse on him.” The Doctor lets the sentence hang in the air, she doesn’t need to say how bad it would be. They all know.

They hear footsteps coming up from the darkened hallway and quickly quieten. They try to glance through the doors but they can’t see much. The door opens and they prepare to move away from the glass before recognising the person who just stepped in.

“I leave you alone for one minute and the next thing I see is you three getting arrested.” says Graham, he would yell but that might alert the guards. “I was so worried, you three alright?”

“We’re fine Graham.” Yas reassures him.

Graham looks towards The Doctor and furrows his brows. “Maybe it’s a dumb question but why haven’t you used your sonic to get out?”

The Doctor looks up to him and sighs. “No question is a dumb question Graham! And I can’t, it’s got electromagnetic shielding in place. No tempering allowed from this side.” She shows him by picking up a loose stone from the floor before throwing it at the glass. It bounces off the shield in sparks. “Learnt not to touch that quite quickly.” She shows him a burnt fingertip.

Graham grimaces at it. “So no sonic then.” He starts looking around the room. “Anything in here that’ll unlock that?” He gestures to the key card system.

The Doctor smiles. “Yes, just behind you and through the door is a wall full of key cards. I saw them as we were brought it. You just need to get the right card.” Graham nods, standing up and walking over to the door. “It’s the red one, can’t miss it.” He turns back to look at her before breathing deeply and walking into the room. They all look at each other, wondering what that was for.

Graham curses the colour red. Of all the colours, why did it have to be red? He makes his way into the room and over to the key cards, there’s easily hundreds here. He’s trying desperately to figure out the colours but he can’t, they all have different markings on them but he can’t pinpoint the right colours. He could be holding anything in his hand right now. He runs a hand down his face, his one job, get the correct card and unlock the door and he can’t do it because he can’t see correctly like other people. He sighs, he knows he’s being way too harsh on himself.

Graham walks out from the room, after placing the key cards back. He watches as they all look at him in hope before frowning when they see that he doesn’t have a key card with him. “I can’t do it Doc.” he mumbles, looking away. “I’m sorry.”

“What do you mean you can’t do it?” snaps Ryan, all he had to do was get the card. “Just get the card.”

“I can’t Ryan.” Ryan turns his head away, so much for rescue then.

The Doctor studies his face for a moment. It’s not a matter of not being able to get the card, he can do that. It’s something else. “Why can’t you?” she asks gently.

He turns to look at The Doctor before pointing to his eyes. “I can’t see it.” The Doctor, Yas, and Ryan all look at him, puzzled for a moment.

Ryan stares at him hard though, observing him, a thought long forgotten coming back to him. He once found a note stuck to a cushion, it simply said ‘red’ in his Nans handwriting. He thought nothing of it at the time but now something is making sense now. “You’re colour blind.” he blurts out. Everyone turning to look at him. Graham nods to confirm. “Why have you never said anything?”

Graham shrugs. “It never came up, never had to break my friends and family out of an alien cell before.” He sighs. “I learnt how to deal with it, can’t help how you’re born now, can ya.” He turns to face Ryan. “Your Nan, she figured it out when she asked me what shade of red paint looked better.” He smiles at the memory before continuing. “I said neither, they both look greenish to me.”

The Doctor looks at him. “You should head back, Graham. Can’t have you getting caught down here with us.” The Doctor says quickly.

Graham shakes his head. “No offence Doc, but I didn’t come all this way just to go back. We’ll have to figure something out.”

Yas thinks the problem over a bit before turning to look at The Doctor. “Did the card in question have any markings on it?”

The Doctor thinks back, trying to remember. “Maybe, I think I saw three lines running across it. Perhaps a circle shape at one end?” She looks at Graham with a sorry face. “They took us in here quite quickly only managed to get a glimpse.”

“I guess it’s good enough.” Graham goes back into the side room and looks at the cards again. Okay, three lines, circle. He spots about sixteen cards matching that description and quickly grabs them all hoping that one of them is correct. He makes his way back into the cell room and kneels down to place them on the floor.

They all move towards the glass, making sure they stay away from the shield. Yas spots the red card amongst the different colours. She points towards the card. “That’s the one Graham.” He nods and picks it up to unlock the door. It clicks open.

“Brilliant, Team TARDIS working together.” The Doctor turns to Graham and gives him a smile. “Nice work but before we stop for a group hug we should really get out of here and back to The TARDIS.” They all nod and follow Graham back the way he came, making their way slowly towards safety.

 

Once they’re all back in The TARDIS The Doctor turns to each of them and gives them a hug, holding onto Graham a little longer. She pulls away and looks him in the eyes. “You did great today Graham.”

Graham shrugs. “Didn’t do much, had to bring the cards to you to know which was the right one. If the roles were reversed that wouldn’t have needed to be done and we would’ve been out sooner.”

The Doctor is about to say something but Ryan cuts in front. “Didn’t you say earlier that you can’t help the way you were born? What if it was the other way round and I wasn’t the one arrested. What if I had to walk across a ledge to unlock the cell?” Graham faces Ryan. “When you’re born with something that affects your life, that other people take for granted, you can either let it eat away at you. Let it make you feel less than others.” He takes a step towards Graham. “Or you can accept what makes you different. I still can’t ride a bike and you might not be able to see colours, that doesn’t make us lesser.” 

Graham watches Ryan, remembering all the times he snapped at him when he said he couldn’t do things. “Guess you’ll blame that on the dyspraxia too.” comes to mind straight away and he feels shame. Knowing he should’ve never have said that to him.

“I’m sorry for the times I snapped at you son.” Ryan blinks in surprise, he didn’t expect an apology from Graham. “I should've told you, I should’ve told you all.” He looks at The Doc and Yas. “Ryan is right, we can’t change how we are born, but we can change how it affects us.” It’s been a long day and he needs rest. “If that’s it over for today, I’m gonna head to my room.” Graham starts to walk away before being called back by The Doctor.

“What colour is the inside of The TARDIS to you Graham?” She gestures around the console room.

Graham looks at her, puzzled before answering. “I don’t know, sorta green I think?” He shrugs and walks away from them.

“Why did you ask him that Doctor?” asks Yas.

“He’s never seen how the console room is meant to look.” They stay in silence for a moment as they all look around the orange room.

“Is there anything that can be done in the future?” ponders Yas. 

Ryan looks at her and frowns. “Are you asking if there is a cure? Because that’s all sorts of wrong Yas.” He says defensively.

Yas turns sharply towards him, horror on her face. “Of course not Ryan, I would never suggest such a thing. I mean is there anything that can help him see what we see?”

Ryan feels a little bad for snapping at her. “Sorry for snapping Yas, I know you didn’t mean it like that.” He walks over and nudges her in the arm with a sorry face. She looks back and smiles, nudging him back.

The Doctor is deep in thought, she turns to her younger friends. “Not it the future no, but in the present. You remember when he asked for sunglasses on Desolation?” They nod. “How about we get him a new pair?”

“What are you talking about?” asks Ryan. The Doctor just smiles at him before giving The TARDIS a direction to travel in, grabbing their hands when she lands, and leading them out of the TARDIS.

 

Graham wakes, in what he thinks is the morning, time gets confusing in a ship that travels in it. He heads to the kitchen to get a cup of tea and stops suddenly when he sees The Doc, Ryan, and Yas all stood waiting for him.

“What is going on? Why are you all stood in here?”

Ryan looks to his friends before turning back to Graham. “We wanted to get you something, hopefully it’ll work for you.” He steps forward and hands him a box.

Graham raises an eyebrow and takes it. He reads the packaging and gasps before looking up at them, hands shaking.“I can’t accept these, do you know how much they cost?” He can’t accept a gift like this, he and Grace looked at them but he didn’t think it was worth the money, he lived his life so far without seeing certain colours he can manage without them for the rest of his life.

“Of course we do and the price doesn’t matter.” says Yas, quickly looking at The Doctor. “The Doctor pulled some tricks.” She smirks.

Graham doesn’t say anything as he takes the shades from the box, gently putting them on and looking around. Shocked.

“It says it should take a moment to work.” explains The Doctor watching him.

Graham walks over to the TARDIS wall and runs a hand across it in amazement. They watch him intently. “This.. is this orange?” He turns to them grinning. “It’s orange isn’t it.” 

Before they can say anything else he’s exited the kitchen and headed for the console room. They look a little shocked before following after him and find him stood in the console room, his hands covering his mouth as he stares around the room.

“I take it they work then Graham.” Ryan walks up behind him and places a hand on his shoulder. Graham turns to look at Ryan.

“It’s all orange.” Graham voice breaks a little.

The Doctor looks at Graham, his happiness making her smile. “Step outside The TARDIS Graham.” He turns to look at The Doctor before nodding and heading towards the doors.

What he sees before him causes him to gasp, he’s stood in a field of a colour he's never seen before. He bends down to touch it and hears his Fam exit The TARDIS behind him. He can’t take his eyes away from the colour. “Is this what I think it is?” He turns to look back at his Fam and points at The TARDIS when he sees it.

“That’s blue! Blue has never looked that bright before.” he yells, excited before turning back to the colour on the floor. “This is red isn’t it.” he asks no one in particular. “I never thought I would ever see it.” They hear his voice break. "I think I like red the best."

Ryan walks towards him, the next part they decided that he and Graham should just be a part of it. The Doctor and Yas step back into The TARDIS.

Graham is staring at the colours around him as Ryan kneels down next to him. “I have something for you to see.” Graham turns to face him as Ryan takes out a photo frame. “We nipped back to Sheffield to pick this up.” He hands it over to Graham’s shaking hands and watches as he takes an intake of breath and traces his fingers over the picture of Grace.

“She’s as beautiful as ever.” He’s choking back a sob as he stares at her picture, like he's seeing her for the first time. He looks back up at Ryan again and grabs him into a hug. “Thank you Ryan.”

Ryan is momently surprised before he hugs him back, his own emotions threatening to overcome him. Each day he travels with The Doc he feels himself becoming closer and closer to the man before him. They have something in common now, not the same, but they were each born with something they can’t change, and it doesn’t define them, it makes them stronger. They stay in the field in silence and just look at the view in front of them for hours before heading back into The TARDIS. The Doctor and Yas smile at them and grin harder when Graham requests going to the most colourful place in the Universe.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm dyslexic so I based my own thoughts on what I was born with and applied it to Ryan and Graham.  
> But I'm not colourblind so please correct me if I got anything wrong!  
> I wouldn't want to mislead but I have researched and watched Enchroma videos.


End file.
